Car roof



Feb. 17. 1925.

v c. D. BoNsALl.

v CAR ROOF 3 Sheets-Sheet l mm1\wwwwww] m Wi Feb. 17. 1925. Y l1,526,768

c. D. BoNsALL.

CAR ROOF Fil d Qct 2 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 17, 1925. 1,526,768

c. D. BoNsALL.

CAR ROOF Filed Oct. Q 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 rammed Feb. '17,' 1925.

AlJNiTEo STATES cuantas DAVID BoNsALL, or ranNAssUs, PENNSYLVANIA,AssIeNon, BY iirasmiv 1,526,768 PATENT) OFFICE.

ASSIGNMENTS, T P. H. MURPHYV COMPANY, 0F PARNASSUS, PENNSYLVANIA,

A CORPORATION 0F PENNSYLVANIA..

can Boor.

Application mea 0mm 2, 4192e. serial no. 414,302.)`

To all whom z't lmay concern.' j

, Be it known that I, Omas DAVID BoNsALL, a citizen of theUnited\States,

vand a resident of the cit ofv Parnassus, in

the county of Westmore and and State' of Pennsylvania, have invented anew and useful Im `rovement in Car Roofs, of which the fol owing is a seification.` y

This invention re ates principally to car- 920 pensing with separateinside and outside carline's, and seam covers'which heretofore havecommonly been used in the above type of roof. Another object is toproduce a strong and durable roof of simple construction which can bechea ly manufactured Vand easily assembled an which will ri mit the useof sheets of li hter gage t an 'th-ose heretofore required' or roo-fs ofthe all-steel riveted type,^thereby reducing thelv weight and 5cost ofthe roof and, aft: the

same time, greatly increasing the strength l of the roof. Another obectis to produce V a roof comprising paralle upper and lower surfacesextending cross-wise o the car, offset alternately with respect to eachother and connected by substantially vertical web portions, whereby aneven distribution of the metal above and below the horizontal centerline of the roof is obtained, thus placing the neutral axis of the roofalong said center line and thereby enabling the maximum strength of themetal to be utilized.

The invention consists principally in a car roof comprising a pluralityof selfsupportingl roof sheets, so formed that, when assembled withtheir side margins rigidly secured together, the sheets form a roofhaving parallel upper and lower surfaces of equal area extendingtransversely of the car and alternately oi'set with respect to eachother and 'connected by substantially vertical web portions, thusforming a series of flat topped ribs extending crosswise of the car: andalternati rtions channels, thereb locating the neutralV axis of the roofmi way between the plane of said ribs and the plane of the bo-ttoms ofsaid channels and enabling the maximum strength of the metal tobe-obtained. The invention further consistsifthe combinations andarrangements .of parts lhereinafter described and claimed.

In' the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification,and wherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur- Fig. 1is a top plan view of fthe end portion of a car roof -embodyingmyinvention;

Fig. 2 isl an end elevation of the same, drawn to a slightly largerscale; Y

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal lcross-section thro-ugh the ridge portion ofthe roof at the end of the car, the section being taken on fthe line3*-3 in Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail longitudinal cross-section taken throughthe roof between the ridge and the eaves, the section being taken on theline 4--4 in Fig. 1; i

'Fig 5 isa detail longitudinal cross-section through the roo-f at theIeaves, the section being taken thro-ugh the up Harige; of the side plateon the line 5-5 1n Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is y a transverse cross-section through the eaves portion of theroof looking in the direction of one of the roof joints, the setionbeing taken on the line 6-G in Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section taken through the end portion of theyroof between the eaves and the ridge on the line 7 7 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a perspective View of the eaves portion of one ofthe roofsheets;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary plan view of a car 'roof showing roof sheets ofmodified form;

Fig. l() is an enlarged transverse crosssection through the same on theline 101O in Fig. 9; and

Figs. 1l, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 are-longitudinal cross-sections similarto Fig. 4 showing roof sheets of modified form.

The root' shown in Figs. l to 8 of the drawings is applied to av steelbox car having a roof substructure comprising metal angle-bar sideplates 20, which are arranged lwith one' flange up and facing outwardly.

A steel car end 21, Whose upper portion is withl flat bottomed flangedinwardly, as at 22, and is inclined downwardly on opposite sides of theridgev to conform to`the pitch of the roof, has its upper portionconnected to the end of the angle-bar side plates in any desired manner.The flan e 22 is made wider at the eaves than at t e ridge to strengthenthe end of the car against horizontal stresses, and an angle-bar endplate 23, which slopes downwardly on opposite sides of the ridge withthe outwardly projecting top flange thereof flush with the to flange 22ofthe end plate, has its vertical ange secured to the upper portion ofthe car end by means of rivets 24. The horizontal flange of the endplate angle 23 is disposed uppermost and projects outwardly from the carend flush with the inwardly projecting flange 22 thereof.

Transversely arranged load sustaining roof sheets 25 span the car fromside plate t-o Side plate with their eaves portions suppoited on theupper flanges thereof. The roof sheets slope downwardly on oppositesides of the rid es to form a pitch (or arcuate) roof an are formed withparallel upper and lower surfaces 26 and 27, which extend erosswise ofthe car and are of a width corresponding to half the width of thesheets. The adjacent inner marginal portions of the vertically otl'setsurfaces 26 and 27 are connected along the middle of the sheets bysubstantially vertical web por-y tions 28.

The upper surface 26 of each lsheet is provided along its outer marginwith a dependin flan e 29,. whose lower edge terminates a iort istanceabove the plane of the lower surfacef27 thereof; and said lower surfaceis provided alon its outer side margin with an upstanding ange 30, Whoseupper edge terminates a short distante below the plane of the uppersurface of the sheet. Thus, one-half of each sheet is formed with a flattopped rib or inverted channel portion 31 and the other half of thesheet is formed with a flat bottomed upwardly opening channel 32, bothchannel and rib extending erosswise ofthe car. The sheets are Iassembledby lapping the depending outer flange 29 of the rib or downwardlyopening channel 3l of a. sheet over the upstanding flange 30 of theupwardly opening channel 32 of the next adjacent sheet and securing saidflanges together, throughout their length, midway between the upper andlower surfaces 26 and 27 by rivets 33. Thus, when assembled, the sheetsform a single course roof having a series of flat topped ribs extendingerosswise ofthe car alternately with flat bottomed channels. The webportion 28 that connects the upper surface 26, which forms the top ofthe rib 31, with the lower surface 27` which forms the bottom of thechannel 32, forms the inner side wall of said rib and channel; and thedepending flange 29 and the upstanding flange 30 form the outer sidewall of said rib and said channel.

.The lower surface 27, which forms the bottom portion of the channel 32of each sheet, rests upon. the upper flange of the side plates and isrigidly secured thereto by means of rivets 37. The eaves ends of theupstanding underla ping flanges 30 of the sheets are. flattene out overthe top flange of the side plate in the plane of the lower surfaces 27,as at 34. The eaves ends of the sheets are bent downover the outer edgesof' the top flanges of the side plates, forming drip flanges 35.

T he upper surfaces 26, which form the tops of the down ardly openingchannel or ribs 3l of the sheets, are curved downwardly near the eavesends of the sheets and merge into the plane of the lower surfaces 2T,which form the bottom of the upwardly opening' channels 32, at the pointwhere the depending flanges 35 are turned downwardly. The dependingouter side flange 29 of each rib' or inverted channel 31, together withthe surplus metal gained by the merging of the top portion 26 of thesaid rib into the plane of' the bottom portion 27 of the upwardlyopening channel 32, is turned outwardly over the bottom portion of theupwardly opening channel 32 of the next adja-'xent sheet in the form of'a laterally extending flange 36, which flange, together with theunderlying bottom ortion of channel. 27 of the next adjacent s eet, isrigidly secured to the upper flange of the side-plate by means of therivet 37 Running boards 39 rest on and are secured to the top flanges ofangle for running board saddles 40 which have their vertical flangesarranged flatwise against the depending outer flanges 29 of the ribs 3land are secured in position by means of the rivets 33 which securetogether the lapped flanges 29 and 30 of adjacent sheets.

The end sheets 42 are each provided with an upstanding flange 43-alongtheir inner margins, which ext-ends upwardly into the rib 31, of theadjacent sheet, alongside of' the depending flange 29 at the outermargin thereof', and is secured thereto by a row of rivets 44. The bodyportion of the end sheet is in the plane of' the bottoms 27 of theupwardly opening channels of the main sheets 25 and rests on and issecured to the outwardly projecting flange of the end angle 23 by rivets45. The outer margin of the end sheet is turned down over the outer edgeof the top flange angle 23 in the form of a drip flange 46.

The running boards 39 project beyond the end of the car and have anangle iron 47 extending erosswise thereof, the horizontal leo flange ofwhich is bolted or otherwise secured to the undersides of. the runningboards. The overhanging ends of the run- 'oflequal area. extendinfiur/saaie ning are braced and the steel end 21 by means of inclinedstrap' bras 48,-'which have their upper and lower ends riveted orotherwise secured to the-veroffth'e'heights and are connected bysubstantially vertical portions.` This arrangement places unequal amountof metal above and below the horizontal center line of the roof and thuslocates the neutral axis along said line, thereby enabling the maximumstrength of the metal employed to be A utilized. This permits lightergage sheets to be used; and at the same time, results -in a strong andrigid roof of simple construction, which can be cheaply manufactured andeasily applied; The inverted channels or ribs 31 constitute outsidecarlines, and the merging ofthe carlines into the lower plane at theeaves results in a maximum eaves clearance and greatly strengthens theroof against horizontal stresses at this point.

"In Figs. 9 and 10, the sheets 25 are similar to those shown in Fi l to8, ex'- cept that the ribs or inverte channels 31 of the sheets increaseuniformly in width from the ridge toward the eaves, and there is also acorresponding decrease in the height of the ribs 31a from the ridgetoward the eaves. This arrangement results ina rib Aof high narrowAsection at the ridge adal ted to stiien the roof against vertical rooloads, and also results in a broad flat section of the eaves adapted towithstand the horizontal stresses caused by the racking and weaving ofthe car substructure. This uniform widening of the ribs 31el from theridge toward the eaves as the height of the same decreases in the samedirection enables the surplus' metal gained by the decreased height ofthe channels to be used for widening the same and permits the use of thesheet blank having parallel sides, thereby eliminating the expense ofshearing the sheet toa special shape before pressing.

In Fig. 11 the sheets 25b are shown in the form of separate channelswhich extend projectin'` e hereinbefore' described sheets, whenl equired.

In Fig. 12,"the sheets 25 are vshown provided at their middle portionswith upwardly opening. channels 32 and have anges 50 outwardly from theupper edges of the si lian s of the channels, the louter marginal`portions of the flanges lbeing -thattwicel as many rows of rivets arerelapped and riveted together. This arrangement results in a roof whichis similar in cross-section to the I.roof shown in the n Fig. 13 theroof sheets 25d are similar to the roof sheets shown inFig. 12, exceptthat the sheets are twice as wide and havea flat to ped middle rib 311disposed'between two c annels 32d whose outer flanges are turnedoutwardly as at 50 in the plane of the top of the middle rib and lappedand riveted together.

In Fig. 14 the sheets 25c are of channelshaped section, every other oneof .the sheets is linverted and their side flanges are bent outwardlmidway between the upper and lower p anes'of the roof, forining langes50", whichl are lapped and riveted together. y

In Fig. 15 the sheets 25t are similar to those sho-wn in Fig. 14 exceptthat in Fig. 15 the sheets are twice as wide as' thosel shown in Fi 14and are provided at their upper and lower planes of the root in the formof flanges 50 which are'lapped and riveted to-gether.

In Fig. 16 the sheets 253 are similar to the sheets 25, except that dending outer v flanges 29E of thel ribs 31g an the upstanding flanges 30gof the channel 32g are bent outwardly midway between the top of the ribsand bottoms of the channels, forming flanges 50d, which are lapped andriveted together. l

The hereinbefore described construction permits of considerablemodification without departing from the invention, therefore, I do notwish 'to be limited to the exact details shown and described.

What I claim is:

l. A single course metal carroof whose longitudinal section comprisesstraight portions at one elevation alternating with straight portions ata lower elevation and connected by substantially vertical web portions,said roof consisting of load sustaining sheets that have substantiallyvertical flanges at their side margins that are rigidly securedtogether. n'

2. A single course car roof whose longitudinal section comprisesstraight portions at one elevation alternating with straight portions ata lower elevation and `connected by substantially vertical portions, thecrosssectional area of the upper portions heinir substantially equal tothe cross-sectiona area of said lower portions, said roof consisting ofload sustaining sheets that have substantially vertical flanges at theirside margins that are rigidly secured together.

3. A metal car root' comprising an openwork frame and metal roof sheetssupported thereon and spanning spaces therein, said sheets beingpositively attached together along their side marginsto constitute asingle course roof, said root' having alternating flat topped ribs andflat bottomed channels of equal cross-sectional area thereby securing aneven distribution of the metal above and below the neutral axis of theroof whereby the maximum strength ofthe metal is obtained for carryingthe rootl load.

4. A metal car roof having alternating fiat topped ribs and fiat-bottomed channels of equal area formed therein, extending crosswise ofthe car and means for securing same in position thereby placing theneutral axis of the rooi midway between the tops of said ribs and thebottoms of said channels whereby an even distribution of the metal issecured labove and below the neutral axis of the roof and the maximumstrength of the metal is obtained, said ribs merging into the plane ofthe bottoms of the channels near the eaves of the roof.

5. A single course car roor' comprising a plurality of metal roof sheetsthat have substantially vertical angies along their) side margins andare rigidly secured together through said anges, Said roof having flattopped raised portions alternating with Hat bottomed depressed portionsof equal crossLsectional area, thereby securing an/ even distribution ofmetal above and below the neutral axis of the roof and enabling themaximum strength ot the metal to be utilized.

6. A car roof comprising a plurality of metal roof sheets having flattopped raised portions alternating with l'lat bottomed depressedportions of equal area, thereby securing an even distribution of metalabove and below the neutralaxis of the rib and enabling the maximumstrength of the metal to be utilized, the margins of adjacent sheetsbeing rigidly secured together along the neutral axis of the roof.

7. A car roof comprising a plurality of metalsroof sheets having raisedflat topped portions alternating with depressed flat bottomed portionsof equal area, whereby the neutral axis of the sheets is located midwaybetween the tops of said` ribs and the bottoms of said channels and aneven distribution of the metal above and below said neutral axis issecured thereby enabling the maximum strength of the metal to beutilized, the raised and depressed portions of said sheets extendingcrosswise of the car and the side margins of adjacent sheets beingrigidly secured together along the neutral axis thereof.

8. A car roof comprising a plurality of metal roof sheets extendingcrosswise of the car from eaves to eaves and having raised fiat toppedportions alternating with depressed iat bottomed portions of equal area,whereby the neutral vaxis of the sheets is located midway between thetops of said ribs and the bottoms of said channels and an evendistribution of the metal above and below said neutral axis is secured.thereby enabling the maximum of strength of the metal to be utilized,the raised and depressed portions of said sheets .extending crosswise ofthe car and the side margins of adjacent sheets being-rigidly securedtogether along the neutral axis thereof, the raised portions of saidsheets merging into the plane of the depressed portions thereof near theeaves, said sheets being rigidly secured to the roof substructure lnearthe eaves.

9. A earroof comprising a plurality of metal roof sheets arrangedcrosswise of the ear and extending from eaves to eaves, said sheetshaving downwardly and upwardly opening channels of equal area formedtherein which extend crosswise of the car and alternate one with theother, said sheets being rigidly secured to the car at the eaves andbeing rigidly secured together on a line midway between the tops andbottoms ot said downwardly and upwardly opening channels, which lineforms the neutral axis of the sheets.

10. A car roof comprising an openworkning the car from eaves to eaves,each ot' said sheets having an upwardly extending flange along one sidemargin and a downwardly extending flange along the opposite side marginand having an offset near the middle thereof, thus forming channelstherein, one opening upwardly and the other opening downwardly, thedepending outer fiange of the downwardly opening channel of a sheetlapping the upstanding fiange of the upwardly opening channel of thenext adjacent sheet, said fianges being rigidly secured together.

11; A cnr roof comprising a plurality of roof sheets arrangedtransversely ot the car and spanning the same from eaves to 'eaves. andhaving substantially'vertical,flanges at their vside margins; eaihofhsaid sheets hav ing two channels formed therein ot' a width equal toone-half of the width of a sheet, one of said channels opening upwardlyand the other of said channels opening downwardly, the web portion ofsaid channels being connected along the middle portion of said sheets bya Vertical Web portion which forms the inner side flange of each of saidchannels, the onterdepending flange oi the downwardly opening channel ofone sheet lapping the adjacent outer iange of the upwardly openingchannel of the next adjacent sheet and being rigidly secured togetherflatwise through their vertical portions,

l2. A rar roof comprising spaced parallel side plates, a plurality ofmetal roof sheets arranged transversely of the car and spanning the carfrom eaves to eaves with their eaves ends resting on said side platesand rigidly secured thereto, each of said sheets having an upwardlyopening channel formed in one side margin and a downwardly openingchannel formed in the opposite side margin7 said sheets being arrangedwith the outer depending flange of the dowmvardl).v opening Channel ofone sheet lapping the'npstanding iange of the upwardly opening channelof the neXt adja cent sheet, said flanges being rigidly secured togetherthroughout their length.

Signed at Parnassus, Pa., this 14th day of September, 1920.

`CHARLES DAVID BONSALL.

